Food Works Initiative Launched

Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia and Teagasc, have launched an initiative to find Ireland's next food business entrepreneur.

The Food Works programme is aimed at finding ambitious individuals with an interest in building an international food or drink business in Ireland

Through a series of workshops and one to one mentoring, successful participants are given an invaluable range of practical business supports required to develop an initial concept into a winning food product with global export potential.

The available supports provided by Bord Bia, Teagasc and Enterprise Ireland, include consumer market research, business plan development, technical advice, commercial viability testing in addition to access to fast track access to R&D facilities and possible investors and state funding.

Over the past three years, following a competitive process attracting in excess of 250 proposals, a total of 60 start-ups from all food sectors have participated in Food Works. The Food Works team have revealed that 60% of these businesses are now trading which is deemed extremely positive given the high rate of start-up failures within the first 12 months of launching, while 32% of them have started exporting.

Introductory meetings are now being held with candidates interested in being a part of Food Works. 2016. These meetings will help to establish if the Food Works. programme is the right support for you and your business at this stage of development. Ideal applicants are ambitious food or drink entrepreneurs, or companies trading for less than 3 years that wish to target export markets and scale their business.

(MH)